By Joseph M. Schwartz
Progressives welcome the defeat of Republican efforts to use the government shutdown
and the threat of government default to overturn the Affordable Care Act. This is a victory for majoritarian
democratic government over an extreme minority’s attempt to overturn democratic
legislation.
But
the democratic left should also be aware that a victory over minoritarian extremism
could well be followed by a bi-partisan budget agreement that would further gut anti-poverty
programs such as Food Stamps, WIC, and Head Start, cut the real value of Social
Security, and curtail Medicare and Medicaid funding.
The
Senate bill that will reopen the government through Jan. 15 and extend the debt
ceiling until Feb. 7 will be accompanied by a motion that instructs House and
Senate negotiators to reach accord by Dec. 13 on a blueprint for taxing and
spending over the next decade. The elite Washington consensus between
Republicans and moderate Democrats in favor of fiscal austerity threatens to
yield a bi-partisan long term budget agreement that would gut the historic
gains of the New Deal and Great Society programs.
Already,
the self-described bi-partisan “fix the debt” crowd – epitomized by
Pete Peterson, the former Lehman Brothers and Blackstone Group executive, and New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman
– have called for the House and Senate budget negotiators to raise the age for
Social Security eligibility, cut the real value of Social Security through a
new “chained CPI” cost of living index, and curtail the growth in funding for
Medicare and Medicaid. They claim
that we cannot afford investment in our future – and in our young – if we don’t
cut “overly generous” payments to the elderly.
Absent
pressure from below, President Obama is likely to endorse such a long-term
budget accord. Both the President and the beltway bi-partisan elite have no
idea what it means for blue collar and retail sales workers to be forced to
work beyond the age of 67 nor do they understand that 70 per cent of retirees get the bulk of their retirement
income from Social Security. We could shore up Social Security funding if we
simply raised the cap on the amount of income taxed for Social Security. We could also afford a high-quality,
universal health care system if we replaced our wasteful private insurance
system with a single-payer “Medicare for All” program. Finally, we could
increase funding for Head Start and institute publicly financed childcare if we
cut our wasteful imperial military budget and restored effective corporate and
upper-income tax rates to those of the pre-Reagan era.
Only
if we overturn the bi-partisan consensus in favor of “austerity” budgeting can
we achieve social justice for all. Gains in the quality of life for the vast majority won’t come
from corporate-backed Washington political elites but from the pressure of grassroots
democratic movements on elected officials. That’s why progressive activists
should work to build the immigrant rights movement and join the struggles of
low-wage workers for dignity on the job. The United States remains the
wealthiest country in the world. We can readily afford justice for all, but
only if those who produce the wealth democratically control it.
Joseph M. Schwartz is vice-chair, Democratic Socialists of
America and professor of political science, Temple University.
Individually signed posts do not necessarily reflect
the views of DSA as an organization or its leadership.
No comments:
Post a Comment